It’s been a big week for Android. So big, you might feel like you need to sit down, relax, and take it all in over the weekend. If you’re feeling a little chatty, you might want to swing on over to our very own Android Forums, the world’s first and largest Android forum. There you can join in discussions from other Android fans like yourself who are wondering if these newly announced Android devices — Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Samsung Galaxy Gear, Sony Xperia Z1 — are all they’re made out to be. Here’s are a few threads in the forums currently buzzing:

Samsung Galaxy Gear: Are you buying one? — While it’s tough to gauge accurately, it seems that with the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Gear, the world wasn’t exactly smelling what Samsung was cookin’. Samsung’s banking on smartwatches being the “next big thing”, getting the jump on Apple and their rumored iWatch. Have strong feelings on the Galaxy Gear (or smartwatches in general)? Head over to the thread and let your voice be heard.

Sony Xperia Z1 Early Hands On Previews — Sony’s latest flagship was formally announced during IFA 2013, and if you’re looking for a handful of hands-on videos and opinions, check out the Early Hands On Previews thread. There, El Presidente is compiling an ongoing list of hands-on videos of the device. Feel free to add a few of your favorites and talk about whether or not the Sony Xperia Z1 is on your Android radar this year.

Nexus 5 Pre-Release/Speculation Thread — The Nexus 5 is coming. That you can be sure of. While we’re not entirely sure if it will actually be called the Nexus 5, or if Google will simply refresh the original Nexus 4 (ala Nexus 7 2013), there’s enough leaks over the past few days that everyone is already buzzing about it. If you’re looking to see what everyone is saying, head on over to the Nexus 5 Pre-Release/Speculation Thread where we’ll be talking everything Nexus 5, leading up until the phone’s inevitable release.

And that, folks, is just a taste of what’s poppin’ over on Android Forums. If you haven’t yet, make sure you sign up and we’ll be back next week with more From the Forums.

Based on what I found. The connector is larger, therefore all of our standard MicroUSB chargers we have been collecting through the years are now useless with the Note 3.

simpleas

ic ic, I did think that the usb3 on my portable hd was a little too thin and kept freakin bending. Now hopefully this should make it better.

raazman

Nope, should be backwards compatible.

Steven Skwarkowski

From what I found:

USB 3.0 Micro B

The USB 3.0 Micro B connector is found on USB 3.0 devices. This connector is designed to carry data and power in USB SuperSpeed applications. Cables with this connector are not backwards compatible with USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 devices.

Sounds like the usb 3.0 b cable is not backwards compatible with older specs, that makes sense since there’s an extra plug for power… the other plug is just like any old micro usb connector.

TongueDar

The phone has both ports side by side, so from what I can tell you can plug in your old cables if need be. If you click on the link, it shows a picture of the port and weird cable that plugs into this setup.

Fel Pe

Really? Awwww

TAUSMC

All the old micro USB does still work with the Note 3. So no worries

https://plus.google.com/108596272537415356460/posts Jason Farrell

No. All the old microusb 2.0 connectors still work.

Cenarl

could be worse, you could have samsung go with a proprietary cable for no reason other then to charge 25 MSRP for a new one; these seem already somewhat inexpensive and if more phones move to them they’ll be selling them for a buck or two soon enough.

TAUSMC

Actually you can still use your micro USB charger from your other Android phones. They made it so you can do that. So if you had a Note 1, Note 2, Galaxy S, S2, S3, S4, Moment, HTC and or any other phone that used the micro USB you can use on the Note 3. So you don’t have to worry about your other chargers being irrelevant. They purposely designed it that way. They are not pulling an Apple Iphone 4S to 5 plug change. That would really piss off a lot of people.

I had looked in to it when I had seen the bigger plug. You can see how it separates so the smaller USB can lock in. Just look at the pictures of the bottom of the Note 3 and you will see it.

ari_free

I can’t understand why people still buy Apple even after they pull crap like that

TAUSMC

Yeah I don’t understand why either. Then on top of that they charged 25 to 45 dollars for the adapter. The should have giving their costumers at least 1 adapter and then charged a max of 5 dollars for the adapter. I don’t see why Apple couldn’t have just used the micro USB like everyone else was. Well, Apple clamed the micro USB couldn’t transfer the data as fast as their 32 pin connector. I call BS on that because the 1,2,3, and 4 terabyte external drives use micro USB and they transfer information just fine.

Mutomi Sconi

the scientific method, how does it work?

https://plus.google.com/108596272537415356460/posts Jason Farrell

USB 3.0 is really only better VS the old usb2 in two limited (smartphone) cases:

1) TRANSFERS: You transfer a TON of large files to/from your phone’s internal & external SDcards all the time. USB3.0 is faster than both USB2.0 and most wireless (AirDroid, etc) so the bottleneck becomes how fast your SDcards can read/write (internal is usually much faster than an external class10 sdcard).
2) CHARGING: You don’t have your fast A/C charger with you, BUT you do happen to have a USB3.0 computer port available to you. USB 3.0 (0.9amp) will charge slightly faster than USB 2.0 (0.5amps), but it’s still much slower than using most A/C chargers for most modern smartphones and tablets. Even my S3 has a 1amp charger. Bet the Note3 is near 2amps.

xdapao3

*ONLY* two *LIMITED* cases..?!?

Transferring files and charging are THE TWO MAIN USES of any smartphone’s USB connector.

BTW, I use additional batteries and never charge my Note 2 apart from when docked in the car but 900 mAh is not *SLIGHTLY* faster than 500mAh, it is almost TWICE as fast… As for the what the bottleneck in transfer speed then becomes: exactly, the USB connector is no longer the bottleneck.

When I get my Note3 I’ll continue to use the A/C adaptor to charge faster, and I’ll continue to use AirDroid to transfer files more conveniently than the fail that is MTP even since android ICS (iirc), and adb over wireless.

I’ll probably only ever use the included usb3 connector on the very rare occasion that I have more than a couple GBs to xfer at once.

xdapao3

I use the USB connector even less than you since I NEVER chain my MOBILE device down to a wall socket and I too much prefer using AirDroid and resort to USB file transfers only for several-GBs files (and 802.11ac, coming with the Note 3, should help making it an even more infrequent occurrence). That said, those are and remain the main uses of USB connectors so for those using it (the vast majority of users) USB 3 is not as unimportant as you make it out to be. Even I will benefit, even though not dramatically so, from the improvements it brings about. Any improvement is welcome and better to have it than not to have it, like all the rest of the smartphones on the market.

The Note III rules.

deeznutz1977

what I would like to know is if the note 3 has a xenon or led flash

KvnVdH

Not xenon.

ac

Thanks for the shout out, Chris.

DJ Lawless One™

“The spec nobody is talking about: USB 3.0 B”:

And with 3 posts in the linked thread…… there is still nobody talking about it.

mcl630

The links to the Nexus 5 Speculation thread are broken. Here’s the correct link:

The Note 3 is the best device for 2013-2014. This beast has bumped every spec on board including the much needed internal memory. The screen res is sick, just beautiful to watch any video on. This is my new device and I think I’ll get myself one of the matching watches to go with it. Thank You Samsung.
PS After market accessories will be everywhere for this phone, just wait a few days.

Shivram Krishnamurthy

India is getting the Exynos chip…..so does this have a FM radio ?.. Why this discrimination…India does not get the S 800 chip with the above feature, no 4K recording & same price…very sad

phatmanXXL [16,000+ posts]

It’s kinda hard to talk about a specific note 3 spec when people aren’t even talking about the gnote 3 :/